The incredible story of a 23-year-old dude who lost 26 kg and got 8-pack abs

Get inspired. Or not.

Weight loss is not an easy task for most people. But once you find the motivation to actually begin to lose weight, you have overcome the most difficult part of your fitness journey. You could try out everything you need to drop a few kilos — from working around your busy schedule by doing a few fat-burning exercises while sitting on your desk to taking up Intermittent Fasting by following the 16:8 diet — but if you aren’t inspired enough to carry on with your routine consistently, it will become nearly impossible to achieve results. So if you’ve been wondering how to achieve real, lasting weight loss and are looking for some motivation, meet Arpit Kushwaha who lost 26 kg simply by putting his mind to it. A beach trip to Diu, on India’s west coast, inspired Arpit to lose weight and get fit.

How to lose weight and get ripped at the gym

When he first decided to lose weight Kushwaha signed up for a one-month gym membership. “I also began running because my friends told me it would help me lose weight fast,” he says. “I would run for hours, do cardio, running, cross-training and cycling. Initially I did cardio every day. Later when I realized cardio is not the solution, I stopped doing cardio all together and shifted to weight training.” But he continued running on Sundays for at least 20-25 minutes.

Kushwaha worked out for a good hour and a half at the gym every day. At the gym he began targeting a single muscle each day. He began with HIVT (High Intensity Volume Training) workouts. After some research, he found out that there wasn’t just one workout that would help him lose weight. So, he switched to HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which has more cardio vascular exercises. While HIVT is weight training with more intensity and volume, but works as a cardio exercise as well.

“I used to train for six days a week — from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays I would go running or perform any other kind of cardio exercise. Initially I used to target one muscle group per day but later I realised I should be training each muscle group, twice a week.” He explains his initial exercise routine as “Chest – triceps, Back – biceps and Legs – shoulder. Eventually, Kushwaha switched to another programme which involved working out push muscles on Monday, pull muscles on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday and the repetition of the above cycle for the remainder days.

How to lose weight with a healthy diet

If you want to know how you too can lose weight, you should probably know that eating right is as important, if not more, than working out. “I used to divide my meals according to nutrients like carbohydrates and fats,” Kushwaha explains. “Then I used to split my meal into three parts.” This was his diet:

How to maintain your weight after weight loss

Kushwaha’s only advice if you want to maintain your weight after weight loss is to keep training and not quit altogether just because you’ve achieved your goals. “I’ve increased my training intensity since the time I lost weight. I used to weigh 96 kilos and I have brought my weight down to 70 kilos. My body fat was around 30 per cent and I came down to around 10-12 per cent,” he reveals. His aim was to achieve six-pack abs but he achieved eight-pack abs instead, which was a totally unexpected achievement for him. Kushwaha is currently working on building his muscle mass.

Speaking of the time he hit a plateau during his weight-loss journey he says, “I weighed around 77 kg and I was really depressed as I wasn’t making progress, despite putting my best efforts. But with proper research and guidance, I was eventually able to accomplish my goal.”

Kushwaha’s only advice for people who wish to undergo a body transformation is to start reading before blindly believing in fitness myths. “Don’t indulge into too much cardio and start avoiding packaged food. Read about what is good for you and what is not. Count your calories, plan your strategies and go ahead.”

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